Lance of Longinus
Lance of Longinus is an old and developed coastal country located on the far west of Little Upsilon's Virgina Bella, more precisely in the region of Great Hills. The only long standing border nation is Lance of Abaddon, a member of the Nyxian empire ruled by John R as well since December of 2179. For over a century, Lance of Longinus was the sole country ruled by John R. However, on the 22th of September of 2116, Lance of Longinus conquered Venom, ruled until then by ExMudder, and thereafter known as Light of the Soul. Lance of Longinus is the founding member of Valde Subsidium and Laws of Economics. History and Geography With the presidency of John R spanning from January of 2012 to today, his presidency is the oldest player one in Little Upsilon. The only presidency older than John R's is of the gamemaster Tom Willard in the country of Tommi, beating it by only one game month. Upon its creation, the original name of Lance of Longinus was Farran mas. As the first action of his Presidency, John R changed the country's name to Ansem the Wise. From that time on, all corporations within the country had the prefix Ansem. In order not to forget its original name, he renamed the capital to Farran mas. As for the capital's original toponym, that has been lost to the annals of time. Only in the 20s of the XXI century, did the country change its theme - the name and the national anthem. This was done to stay in harmony with the other four empires ruled by John R in the other worlds of the Simcountry universe. In that reformation, the country's name was changed from Ansem the Wise, to Lance of Longinus; the anthem from non-existent, to Thanatos; no flag as yet has been decided. Lance of Longinus is the name of a weapon in the animé series New Genesis Evangelion. This lance alludes to the Spear of Destiny, the spear that was used to pierce Jesus Christ's side, to certify he was dead. Thanatos is the personification of death in Greek mythology and often used as a synonym to Freud's death drive. Government and Internal Lance of Longinus is a republic formed in January of 2012 and is ruled under a Social Democracy ideology. Farran mas, the country's largest city with 10% of the total population - 7,070,210 inhabits - operates as the financial and political capital. The four main governing components are the President of the Republic, the Assembly of the Republic, the Government, and the Courts. The constitution grants the division or separation of powers among legislative, executive, and judicial branches. There is no state religion, making it a secular state. The form of government is considered semi-presidential with the President, the Head of State, officially known as President of the Republic, being elected to a two thousand-year term. He has both a supervising and supra-executive role and is charged with conducting all of the state's foreign affairs. Also, the President has the power to dissolve any institution within his borders; be it private or public, political or judicial, etc. The current President is John R and he was elected in January of 2012. The Prime Minister has the main duty of supervising and conducting all domestic affairs. The length of his term and power is linked to the Assembly of the Republic. He chooses who forms the cabinet, but his nominations have to be approved by the Assembly. The current Prime Minister is Simonides de Ceo. Every five years, or whenever the Assembly of the Republic is dissolved for other reasons, elections are held to elect the 230 deputies for five years. The President invites the secretary or president of the party with the most votes to form a government. However, the Assembly has the power whether to approve or dismiss the choice of the President for Prime Minister and his cabinet. The courts are organized into categories: judicial, administrative, and fiscal. The supreme courts are the courts of last appeal. A thirteen-member constitutional court, whose members are proposed by the Assembly and approved by the President, oversees the constitutionality of legislation. Anthem Lance of Longinus' national anthem, Thanatos. Thanatos is the national anthem. The official version was composed by Shiroh Sagisu, it's purely instrumental and is performed by the Eminence Orchestra; although a vocal version does exist. In Greek mythology, Thanatos is the personification of death. In psychology, it is used as a synonym for the "death drive". As defined by Sigmund Freud, the death drive is "an urge inherent in all organic life to restore an earlier state of things". This is to be understood as a desire to return to an inanimate state on their own, alone. Also, Thanatos, the tendency towards destruction, is the opposing force of Eros, the desire to create life and build. In official terms, the anthem is a hymn to individualism, free will and the joy of reaching the Promised Land. Foreign Relations In the beginning, Lance of Longinus only interacted with the TGDF Federation. However, that relation did not last long after the chairman, Coen Hyde, left Little Upsilon. After this, all ties with the outside world were closed for almost 20 years. After some events with Simon Dabney, John R made a series of contacts with some nations in Virgina Bella, to form Valde Subsidium in 2047. Since its formation, John R has held the chairmanship through Lance of Longinus. On trade agreements, the only Common Market it belonged to was Laws of Economics. It started as a private CM for only the Enterprises Alpha and Omega and the country Lance of Longinus. In its time, feeling it had been separate from the world too long, new members came to join. Laws of Economics is now the largest CM in Little Upsilon in terms of membership and production. Economy Lance of Longinus has a capitalist mixed economy, in which most of the corporations are either completely run by the State, or in partnership with the private sector. The estimated production for 2276 was $18,612,360,000,000, making it one of the biggest producers; and with a population of 70,843,791 inhabitants the production per capita was $262,723.94, thus making it one of the most productive. The activities that contributed the most to Longinus' production were Industrial (33.5%), Mining (24.9%) and Utility (20.6%). In the same period, there was a total workforce of 34,228,899 workers, of which 2,188,870 (9.27%) were unemployed. The total income for all workers was $759,597,750,000 per month; per worker this totalled as $22,191.71. Even with a sound economy comparable with few countries in Little Upsilon, a plan advanced by the President and approved unanimously by the Assembly aims to indisputably turn Lance of Longinus the largest economy world wide and elevate its production per capita beyond $26,000 per month. This is a 30 year plan expected to be accomplished by the end of 2299. Military The President of the Republic is the Commander-in-Chief of the military that has as primary objectives the defence of the national territory, the protection of the Longunian interests abroad, the maintenance of global stability, the protection and military support of the members of Valde Subsidium. The Longunian armed forces are classically divided into four branches: * Army - responsible for all large scale ground invasions; * Air Force - responsible for the safety of the Longunian skies; * Navy - in charge of all overseas operations; * Strategic - this branch holds access to all nuclear arsenal and conducts all air drops in enemy territory. The President supersedes this branch personally and exclusively. The military is composed of 315,905 men and has a annual budget of $98,000,000,000 to govern itself. National service isn’t mandatory within Lance of Longinus. Lance of Longinus enjoys a long and proud naval tradition since its inception, boosted since 2029, when the country was placed in Hall of Fame for the first time on LU. Its first military victory occurred in 2116 with the conquest of Venom, located in the continent of Lynx Minor, from the President Ex Mudder. The country is still part of the Nyxian Empire under the name Light of the Soul now. The campaign was mainly conducted by John R using only the country’s naval resources. Although Lance of Longinus initially did not have any military intentions, today it is the country on Little Upsilon with the largest collection of military hardware. This twist of plans happened to force military interventions in the less rational minds of Little Upsilon. Achievements Lance of Longinus finished in 2nd placed on February of 2008, the month of Little Upsilon's creation. It then won 1st place on April of 2010 and several other times. The empire has achieved the Game level 6 in 2008, the equivalent to nowadays level 12. See also * Nyxian Empire Category:Little Upsilon Category:Defunct Country